Interview with Steven McLoughlin from PokerTracker 4: Part 2
We are back with the second part of our interview with poker software developer Steven McLoughlin, who has been telling us all about the new features available on PokerTracker 4.
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If you missed part 1 of this interview you can read it here.
"Simple is better"
PokerStrategy.com: One of the noticeable features about PT4 is its simplicity (filters, customisation), especially when you consider the level of detail involved in the stats. How important is simplicity?
Steven McLoughlin: We find that most of our users just want to play poker, they do not want to take the time necessary to learn how to use a new tool to improve their game unless the learning experience does not interfere with other important things to do.
This is why a large portion of our development time was spent assuring that the user interface was as simple to understand as possible without compromising the advanced features that players can access.
Our policy is to assure that PokerTracker 4 improves the playing experience, if PokerTracker 4 was too complicated to use it would be counterproductive to our mission.
Simple is better, this allows our users to just focus on the game instead of wasting time in the PokerTracker 4 interface.
PokerStrategy.com: What support is available for players new to tracking software, as there is a lot to learn?
Steven McLoughlin: PokerTracker 4 includes 65 video tutorials which help to teach you how to use all of PokerTracker 4’s features. Each video is 2-4 minutes in length and professionally produced with Final Cut Pro, we kept the videos short in length to reduce the amount of time needed to learn how to use each new feature.
We also include extensive tutorial guides available on our website when you click the Support button, and we regularly visit the PokerStrategy.com forums to answer any user questions in English, German, Russian, and Swedish. If you have any problems, you can always create a support ticket for hands-on help from our world class support representatives.
"Learn the key stats before using the HUD"
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| The PT4 HUD |
PokerStrategy.com: What areas would you suggest new players who have never used PokerTracker before start on to see an immediate improvement in their game?
Steven McLoughlin: We think you will find PokerTracker 4 easier to use if you learn what the key stats mean before you incorporate the HUD in your game.
For new users we suggest they start using PokerTracker 4 as a tool to review their hands after each session is complete.
Once you learn how to review your hands in the replayer, then it is time to explore the stats in the default HUD. If you have trouble understanding what a stat means or how it is defined, use LeakTracker to watch our tutorial videos on the most popular stats used by PokerTracker 4 users.
PokerStrategy.com: Are there any plans to develop software compatible with mobile devices in the future?
Steven McLoughlin: We do not have any plans to create a PokerTracker 4 version for mobile operating systems at this time. The PostgreSQL database back end is not available, and the data storage necessary does not yet exist.
For the time being we are focusing on developing for the Mac OS X platform, our research tells us that approximately 19% of all active online poker players use a Mac. We hope to have PokerTracker 4 for OS X available for use before the end of Q1 2013!
"Our estimate is 1/5 players use tracking software"
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| The new NoteTracker feature |
PokerStrategy.com: What percentage of online players would you estimate use PokerTracker or Holdem Manager? Would you say all serious players do?
Steven McLoughlin: Our research tells us that there is approximately 7 to 9 million active poker players in the world, active means the player has logged 4 hours or more consecutively month to month.
Our estimate is that between 1/5 and 1/6 of these users own some sort of tracking software - our goal with PokerTracker 4 is to increase this to 1/4 of all active users!
PokerStrategy.com: Has working on PT improved your own game?
Steven McLoughlin: Absolutely! PokerTracker has helped me to review my own play away from the table, by using filters I could find situations where I found that I was not playing optimally.
I can confidently say that I have learned more from analysing my own hands in PokerTracker 4 than I have learned from actually playing!
When I come across a hand where I am unsure of my play, I can easily share it with players whose opinions I trust thanks to the built in hand history converter, or I can export the hand to YouTube to post on Facebook, Twitter, or even PokerStrategy.com.
"Look out for TagTracker this summer"
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| The PokerTracker Team |
PokerStrategy.com: Can you share some future areas you are working on? What could a potential PokerTracker 5 look like?
Steven McLoughlin: We have a long way to go before we will start to work on PokerTracker 5, but we are already taking notes about potential ideas from the feedback we get every day from our users.
In the meantime we continue to develop new additions for PokerTracker 4, the most exciting new feature we are developing is tentatively called TagTracker.
TagTracker automates the assignment of Tags to a player, I like to describe it as autorating except this is 100 times better and more useful to both inexperienced and advanced players alike.
We hope to have TagTracker available before the summer of 2013. There is much more to come, PokerTracker 4 will continue to get better and better!
Learn about PokerTracker 4 in more detail
